On May 17, 2026, thousands of people gathered on the National Mall for “Rededicate 250,” a daylong prayer rally organized by Freedom 250, the White House-backed public-private group planning the country's 250th-anniversary celebrations. Organizers billed it as a chance to “solemnly rededicate our country as One Nation Under God,” and the Daily Beast described it as a nine-hour program. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio addressed the crowd in video messages, according to NPR, and House Speaker Mike Johnson led a prayer.
Trump did not attend. He appeared in a prerecorded video reading 2 Chronicles 7, which the AP reported was filmed in the Oval Office and was the same footage used at a Bible-reading event the month before. According to White House press pool dispatches cited by the Daily Beast, his motorcade took him to Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, where he arrived just before 1 p.m. and left at 4:22 p.m. NPR also reported that he was golfing that afternoon.
That day he posted on Truth Social: “I HOPE EVERYBODY AT REDEDICATE 250 IS HAVING A GOOD TIME,” adding, “IF THERE IS ANYTHING I CAN DO TO HELP, JUST HAVE OUR BEAUTIFUL, BOTH INSIDE AND OUT, RACHAEL C.D., GIVE ME A CALL.” The post made no mention of faith or prayer; it remarked instead on the appearance of Fox & Friends Weekend co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy, who was covering the event, and misspelled her name.
The Daily Beast, citing the tracking site Did Trump Golf Today, reported that Trump had played golf on 106 of his first 483 days back in office, about 21.9 percent. It also noted that he skipped Easter services the month before and that his Easter-morning travels took him to the same Sterling club. The day stood out because the administration has increasingly embraced overt religious symbols in public life, as NBC News reported, while the president spent the faith event it backed on the golf course.
Correction (October 2, 2026): An earlier version said Trump posted from the golf course, that he skipped Easter services at the National Cathedral, and that taxpayer-funded Secret Service and motorcade costs attach to each golf visit. The Daily Beast does not say where he was when he posted, it says only that he skipped Easter services (not which church), and no source in the entry supports the cost claim, so those details were removed. The entry now also reports that Trump did appear in a prerecorded video, and that Hegseth and Rubio spoke by video, and the title was changed to reflect that.